Wang Theatre
270 Tremont Street,
Boston,
MA
02116
270 Tremont Street,
Boston,
MA
02116
19 people
favorited this theater
Showing 126 - 150 of 154 comments
Here’s a 1959 photo of what was then the Metropolitan Theatre. The photo is described here.
The theatre’s marquee says “MET” and advertises “John Paul Jones”. Next door at the Wilbur Theatre, a live stage, is “A New Comedy” called “Golden Fleecing”.
According to an unpublished draft manuscript by Douglas Shand-Tucci entitled The Puritan Muse (available in the Fine Arts room of the Boston Public Library), the last show as the Metropolitan was on May 31, 1962. Ben Sack reopened it as the Music Hall in June, 1962.
The theatre was originally intended to be named Capitol rather than Metropolitan. Over the years it moved from the M&P chain to ATC to New England Theatres, and finally to Sack.
Some interior photos and restoration information are available at http://www.conradschmitt.com/CaseStudies/wang.asp
Sacks policy for movies at The Music Hall could be very odd. For awhile it was the james Bond house and other big attractions. But you could also find things like an obscure blaxploitation western called ‘Thomasina & Bushrod’ playing.
Odd story I heard about the place was that the boxoffice had a pneumatic tube connection to the managers office which was used to send cash to be counted. One of the capsules broke in transit and so loose bills kept showing up for weeks afterward when a capsule was sent.
Ron—Thanks for the archive reference. Much appreciated.
If you have a library card in Massachusetts, you can get to them here:
http://www.mmrls.org/homeaccess.html
Go to “NewsBank” after entering your library card number.
Ron—Where do you access the Globe archives? On-line?
Looking through the Boston Globe and Herald archives, I see that the theatre officially changed over from Sack Theatres' Music Hall to the Metropolitan Center on July 7, 1980.
The last show to be presented by Sack was a seven-week live production of the musical “Fiddler on the Roof”, starring Herschel Bernardi.
Perhaps I am confusing my Travolta… could it have been “Saturday Night Fever” that played the Music Hall?
Right, that was the second time around for the Metropolitan name.
Technically, I think it’s now called the “Wang Theatre” rather than the “Wang Center”, because the latter is now the name of the umbrella organization that operates both this venue and the Shubert across the street.
But most people I know still call this theatre the “Wang Center”.
For the record, it’s probably worth clarifying that the Music Hall was renamed The Metropolitan Center in the 1970s, then (as noted in a previous post) renamed The Wang Center following Dr. Wang’s donation in the mid-1980s.
A shame that the Wang isn’t viable as a film house, because it is far from ideal as a venue for live theater. While the large seating capacity—-more than twice the size of a typical Broadway house—-means a high gross potential, the acoustics and sightlines are mediocre and charging near-Broadway prices for the rear orchestra and mezzanine makes little sense due to the considerable distance from the stage (bring binoculars).
The Cinema 57 played “Grease” on an exclusive basis in June 1978 for at least several weeks before expanding to the suburbs. I don’t believe that “Grease” played the Music Hall as a first run, although I wouldn’t be surprised if it was shown at some point as part of the Wang series.
I believe that this theater showed movies as late as 1978 under the Sack’s “Music Hall” name. I would have to check old newspapers, but I am pretty sure the movie “Grease” played here on first release. I could be wrong, though.
Does anyone know when Sack Theatres stopped regularly showing movies here?
During the mid-to-late 1970s, I remember it only as a venue for concerts and other live performances.
Boris – I’m pretty sure I recall seeing the booth on the first floor around 1965; I think it was a screening of “Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines. They cut a chunk of the decorative mouldings out from under the balcony to allow projection clearance. About five years ago, during a screening of the restored "Vertigo” in 70mm VistaVision, I visited the current booth which is once again on the upper level.
Just a note: When I went on the tour of the ‘reburbished’ Wang, the guide pointed out that the marble is not real but an Italian process called (I think) Scagliola; they press real marble dust into wet plaster. He said the workers were very secretive about how it was done and worked behind shrouds.
Also, I don’t hink the projectionj booths were ever on the ground floor-that was the Boston Cinerama theater. I remember as a kid sneaking up to the very top of the balcony; some Cinemascope thing was playing, and the 70-foot screen looked the size of an airmail stamp. There were, and still are, two brass-doored elevators to take people up to the top of the balcony. I never got to ride in them as a kid, since they were the old kind that required an elevator operator.
More from this booklet:
By the 1940’s costs were mounting and big name headliners became increasingly necessary to draw crowds. The Big Bands, including Duke Ellington, the Dorsey Brothers, Benny Goodman, and Gene Krupa, played here. Bob Hope, Al Jolson, and Dorothy Lamour performed at war bond drives. After world War II attendance declined due to the impact of TV. Stage shows were abandoned for a while, but after the Boston Opera House was destroyed in the late 1950’s, the theatre became attractive to large touring productions. Rechristened the Music Hall in 1962, the theatre hosted such groups as the Bolshoi Ballet, the Boston Ballet, and the Metropolitan Opera. However, stage depth and production facilities were inadequate, and many touring shows were forced to bypass the Boston audience.
In 1974 the Boston Redevelopment Authority identified the Music Hall as a theatre with potential to serve the city and suggested to the owners, the New England Medical Center Hospital, that a non-profit group by established to lease and renovate the facility. Metroplitan Center, Inc. was incorporated in 1976. In 1983 the roof was seriously damaged, and the theatre was about to be demolished. A plea went out to the community to save the theatre, and Dr. An Wang of computer fame answered the plea with a gift of $4,000,000. The theatre was renamed in his honor. The building is in the National Register of Historic Places.
I have a booklet called “Boston Theatre District: A Walking Tour”, published by the Boston Preservation Alliance in 1993. It says:
The Wang Center, originally the Metropolitan and built in 1925, combines a 14-story Renaissance Revival office building of granite and cast stone, with an auditorium seating 4225 people. C.H. Blackall was the architect. The interior is characterized by a series of vestibules and lobbies, highly decorated in marble, bronze, ornate gilding, and painted friezes.
The initial developer of the Metropolitan was Boston movie mogul Nathan Gordon. The cost was over $8,000,000. The theatre employed a corps de ballet, a 100-voice chorus, and a 55-piece orchestra. There was also a 3100-pipe organ. Along with the stage shows, the musicians and dancers presented tableaux, ballet, and operatic moments. Admission cost 35 to 75 cents. To amuse people waiting to be seated, there were musicians playing in the Grand Lobby, paintings by area artists hung on the walls, and ping pong and billiards downstairs. After the show, couples danced in the Grand Lounge, and in 1932 a small Art Deco restaurant called the Platinum Salon opened in the lounge area.
The Wang’s classic film schedule is here. The films are free and are shown on occasional Monday evenings.
Scheduled for January through April 2005: My Fair Lady, A Streetcar Named Desire, Shakespeare in Love, Dirty Dancing, and A Night At The Opera.
Erik—fascinating info on the use of the Wang lobby for Eastwick. It’s a huge space.
An extended sequence in “The Witches of Eastwick” was shot at the Wang. The palatial lobby was used for one of the interiors of the house of Jack Nicholson’s character (a.k.a. the Devil).
‘American Theatres of Today’ Vol 1 (published in 1927) credits the following as architects of the Metropolitan Theatre;– Blackall, Clapp & Whittemore; C. Howard Crane, Kenneth Franzheim, George Nelson Meserve, Associated architects.
The Film Daily Yearbook 1941 gives a seating capacity of 4,330, by 1950 it was listed as 4,100 seats in the F.D.Y.
I saw “It’s a Mad…Mad World” here in 1965 or so when it was the Music Hall. I remember the projection booth was on the first floor, and they cut out some of the decorative mouldings under the balcony to make way for the projector beam. About five years as the Wang Center, I saw the restored Vertigo there at a wide screen festivel. I visited the booth (now above the balcony) to see the 70mm projectors which used reels rather than platters.
The Wang is larger than the Waterbary Palace.I think when listing seating they should use original seating and then show current seating. Seating is always reduced when renovation or restoration occurs to allow for more leg room. Many theatres have expanded the lobbies into the back of the Auditorium such as the Oriental in Chicago. Original capacity of the Oriental was 3200 after renovation seating was reduced to aroung 2200.I propose the Wang restore its Vertical and canopy and its name. Possibly Wang’s Metropolitan. The current marquee is very boring. Radio City has a wonderful marquee as does the Fox Atlanta, Fox Detroit, Pantagees Hollywood,Paramount Oakland,Fox-Oakland,Portland Portland, Paramount Seattle, Chicago Chicago,Wiltern Los Angeles, Orpheum LA,State Minneapolis, Rialto Juliet,Castro San Francisco,etc….I feel a restored theatre that traces its roots back to the 1920’s is not complete unless it has a proper vertical and canopy marquee. It doesn’t have to be the origianl marquee in its history but at sometime in its history of 1920’s,1930’s,1940’s and 1950’s. Some theatres actually improved on there marquees. Neon is a must. The Great White Way didn’t get its name from plastic and some of the boring marquees that I see today.
I had been taken to this theater to see Disney’s Cinderella when I was 5 or 6. Even at that age, I was in awe of the staircase, all the fancy ‘stuff’, and the size. The little boys room was like an English pub. Years later, when Ben Sack opened it, I went to see ‘Jumbo’ w/ Doris day, Jimmy Durante, Martha Raye, etc.
At that time in 1962 Sack was bringing nostalgia back to the theater, had installed huge bright red velvet curtains, and the movies were preceded by ‘Louie Wier at the Mighty Wurlitzer’-the huge pipe organ rose on an elevator from the pit, an ancient Louie played things like the ‘Skaters Waltz’ with a spotlight on him, then sank back into the pit. All that heaven camp in 1962. He used to have Italian tenors occasionally perform between films also.
When I went on a tour of the renovated Wang Center a few years ago, the guide didn’t know what happen to the organ, but knew and showed me the 1926 air-conditioning system still being used.